E-reader advice

[Wolfwood]

Restricting your definition of e-book reader only to devices using e-ink seems unnecessarily limiting, IMO.

The reason I limit it is that I would never agree to read books on an LCD display. I've tried it and it strains my eyes to no end. E-ink reads like paper and is comparable to a real book in that regard.

[Disembodied]

They did release Kindle Paperwhite after the Fire tablets and they are working on colour display e-ink readers for their next release. It seems clear that they know that avid readers would not consider reading from LCD displays, but they are serving both markets...

True ... but the "Paperwhite" (I suppose the "Less Like A Damp Newspaper Than Before" was too long a brand name ) isn't really a new generation - it's basically the same device with a built-in light. Colour e-ink, too, will have to come on a lot. Colour e-ink readers have been available for a good long while now, but still, no major manufacturer has taken on the technology. The real problem, as with monochrome, is white: without a good white, the colour is always going to be muddy. The fact that they haven't made any real progress with white in monochrome e-ink readers suggests to me that this is a real technological barrier. It might get broken, of course, but there may not be enough money in it to make it worthwhile: they already have excellent colour screens, for tablets, and you need light-emitting screens to show video.

Fundamentally, the problem facing future development of e-readers is that it is dependent on the "avid reader" market, which is a) small (relative to the "avid watcher" market, anyway), and b) low-turnover (again, when compared to the "avid watcher" market). Reading material is not consumed at nearly the same speed as watched material.

There are some figures on sales of e-readers and tablets from December 2012:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Tablet ... le/1009555

They show a drop of 36% (!) in sales of e-readers, compared to a continued rise for tablets. I honestly don't know if the "avid reader" market is big enough to support a separate, dedicated device, when there are other devices already out there that do more things and which are already good enough as e-readers for most people. Maybe they'll continue on as niche products, if they can stay cheap. There is a lot of blank space floating around ... it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that an e-ink reader might become an optional extra glued to the back of a phone or a tablet - or, if they're cheap enough, a ubiquitous feature.

[Wolfwood]

Well, I hope that e-ink readers remain. I will not read on an LCD, so the only other option is to read conventional books (not a bad choice either, but I'd rather save the forests).

[xzanfr]

Cheers for taking the time to explain the situation, Disembodied - its been really helpful.
Its so disappointing that amazon have such a hold over the device - I find the actual hardware excellent but I'm really not keen on their control.
I've got a paperwhite and using it as a reader for content downloaded direct from authors via calibre (with a couple of trial frebies from amazon). I don't have any need to use wifi (its off to conserve battery) so amazons licensing policy shouldn't be an issue in my particular case however I can understand the frustration of people like Martin Bekkelund who use amazons service extensively.

With regards to the e-reader / tablet / phone discussion I feel that it is really down to how the technology works for you. We're all slightly different monkey's so one persons brilliant idea is another's nightmare - personally I can't stand devices that do too many things so carry around an ipod, phone & laptop but I can understand when others would rather a single device, particularly when commuting.
The e-reader has transformed my entertainment - I don't watch much tv and look forward to reading on it in the evening. In my case if it were to have (decent) internet access on it as well than I'd probably end up surfing around and not concentrating on the books!
In a fundamental way I think it is down to how your brain is organised and how you segregate your information - some people like to have it all in separate places and some all in the same place. For me it works but for others it won't and luckily were in a position to be able to choose what we want for now - market forces will decide what survives though!

[DaddyHoggy]

Amazon have such a hold at the moment - because people are generally happy with the status quo. As Amazon gets bigger and I suspect more complacent and cocky (purchasing SmashWords for example) then it won't take many more stories of people having their Kindles wiped remotely, or somebody with some clout (and money) to stand up to Amazon because they've tried to give their e-collection away, or leave it in their Will (although that will make it a bit tricky to stand up to Amazon short of an Ouija Board) - turning that "Buy it with 1-click" into "Lease it with 1-click"...

I'm on Twitter with my Writers Group and what's clear is that there are lots of projects (I don't want to say anti-Amazon so they're Alt-Amazon) springing up that will offer e-book alternatives and methodologies to the Amazon approach (the most recent is: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/as-you-read).

When it comes to Amazon I keep hearing and seeing the scene with Tarkin and Leia - "The harder you squeeze the more slips through your fingers" (or words to that affect).

[Disembodied]

I'm on Twitter with my Writers Group and what's clear is that there are lots of projects (I don't want to say anti-Amazon so they're Alt-Amazon) springing up that will offer e-book alternatives and methodologies to the Amazon approach (the most recent is: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/as-you-read).

Thanks, DH, that's really interesting ... in the end I think/hope that this will be the source of Amazon's downfall (or at least its transformation into a healthier, less monopolistic sort of entity which might occasionally pay some tax). Not necessarily this project, although it looks interesting - but the speed of market change in general and the cleverness of the ideas out there.

The one thing I find truly unforgivable about Amazon isn't the evil: I'm old enough now to expect huge corporations to be evil, at least in a sort of Cthulhoid crush-you-underfoot-as-much-by-accident-as-by-malice kind of way. What really gets me is the stupidity. For such a vast internet company, they seem to be welded to the 20th century. For physical goods, they act as a retailer: they buy in bulk from suppliers, have the items transported from the supplier's warehouse to their own, where they're unpacked, shelved, picked, repacked and finally sent to the customer. What they should do is act as a trusted middleman, and put suppliers and customers in touch with each other. Like eBay, they should sit in the middle and move the information, not the actual stuff, and take a cut on each transaction. This customer orders from Amazon / Amazon orders from supplier / supplier sends to Amazon / Amazon sends to customer stuff is so wasteful it hurts, leaving profit margins so razor-thin that it's barely worth anyone's while - including Amazon.

And they're no better for non-physical goods. Proprietary formats! In the 21st century? I ask you ...

[BuggyBY]

For such a vast internet company, they seem to be welded to the 20th century. For physical goods, they act as a retailer: they buy in bulk from suppliers, have the items transported from the supplier's warehouse to their own, where they're unpacked, shelved, picked, repacked and finally sent to the customer. What they should do is act as a trusted middleman, and put suppliers and customers in touch with each other. Like eBay, they should sit in the middle and move the information, not the actual stuff, and take a cut on each transaction. This customer orders from Amazon / Amazon orders from supplier / supplier sends to Amazon / Amazon sends to customer stuff is so wasteful it hurts, leaving profit margins so razor-thin that it's barely worth anyone's while - including Amazon.

I may be misreading something here, but it sounds like you're describing what already exists: Amazon Marketplace.

[Disembodied]

I may be misreading something here, but it sounds like you're describing what already exists: Amazon Marketplace.

Not exactly. Most of the resellers - at least in the book trade, which is the one I know best - are not the original suppliers: they're other retailers. Where those retailers have become successful, e.g. The Book Depository, they have been bought up by Amazon and operated as subsidiaries.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oc ... sitory-oft

it is true that the Amazon Marketplace is a model for how things could be developed - but the whole thing is riddled with half-crazy demand-led pricing software (check out the bizarre prices offered: sometimes several hundred pounds for second-hand, despite the items being available new for a few pounds), and flat-out lies (items listed as being "new" and "in stock" which are years out of print, or not yet published, or which indeed have never been produced). It needs a serious, indeed root-and-branch, overhaul, before it could become a useful method of connecting suppliers and customers. See for example
http://www.good.is/posts/at-amazon-bugg ... ks-collide